Two local youngsters have won awards for their efforts at this year’s Joe Way Paddle for life.

The awards have been crafted by Newquay surfer Dave Hughes from south Fistral Surf Hire who has helped the charity and has had the highest fundraiser trophy named after his brother who passed away last year. Dave has also made two huge mirrors which have been auctioned off at the last two paddles collectively raising £850.

The “Brother Beef” award, in memory of Dave’s older brother Steve who was also disabled, has gone to young local lad Kian Radford who raised over £310.00 on his Just Giving page for the Precious Lives Appeal. Kian saw one of Joe’s banners and asked his mum to explain Joe’s story and he immediately wanted to help. Kian has learnt to surf at the SKINDOG surf school under the watchful eye of Sophie Skinner and he recently picked his SKINPUP custom board by charity Ambassador Ben Skinner.

The second award, for most inspirational paddler, has been made in memory of Scott’s sister Cheryl Dickinson who sadly passed away aged 9 from Cystic Fibrosis many years ago. Scott Dickinson is the Paddle media and web designer.

The European Longboard Tour came to Cornwall this weekend. The three star-rated event, part sponsored by Extreme Academy, Hendra Holiday Park, Flowrider at Retallack as well as Skinners Fine Cornish Ales to name but a few, attracted some of the biggest names in the sport and was an absolute surfing show for spectators.

The event was organised by defending ETL champion Ben Skinner. He said: “I’ve been passionate about bringing this event to Cornwall - the ETL has been running for four years and until now we’ve never had a round here in the UK. As a surfing nation we’re really strong in Europe and this has been a great showcase for Cornwall and British surfing”.

With great weather conditions and outstanding community spirit the Paddle for Life Event was a resounding success on Thursday 23rd September down on Newquay Harbour.

The event saw over 200 paddlers of all ages and abilities taking part to do their bit to raise money for their chosen charities, of which 20 charities will benefit from this single event. One of the many charities which took part in the paddle was the ‘Cornwall Blind Association’ lead by British champion Jonny Fryer. Ben Ford, one of the team riders (paddler) for the association had this to say about the event; “We can’t thank the Joe Way Paddle for Life team enough, their dedication to Joe’s story means surfers like us can really get involved in fundraising for our own charities”.

Over 600 spectators cheered on the paddlers, buying raffle tickets and taking part in the evening’s auction. With £5000 raised, the 2010 paddle looks set to be the most successful to date with the number of entrants and spectators.

Tiger 24 kindly donated their services, providing a live stream of the event to hundreds of online watchers many of whom used the new iphone app to watch the event on their phones. They also kept the crowds on the harbour entertained with their witty banter. Bookers wholesalers provided over £500 worth of burgers, sausages and rolls to create what can only be described as a barbeque of epic proportions. With the crowd fed and watered, the biggest highlight of the day made its appearance...TITAN THE ROBOT.